Denyse Tontz (born September 17, 1994"miranda rights". ''Soap Opera Digest''. July 15, 2013. p. 45.) is a Salvadoran-American actress, singer, and songwriter. Tontz is known for her roles as Cortney Strathmore on Freeform's '' The Fosters,''

Miranda Montgomery Miranda Montgomery is a fictional character from the American serial drama, ''All My Children''. Casting and characterization On February 19, 2013, it was believed that actress Jordan Lane Price was to be cast as a SORASed Miranda on the Prosp ...

on ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and ...

,'' Nikki Ortiz on ''

Dog with a Blog ''Dog with a Blog'' is an American comedy television series that aired on Disney Channel from October 12, 2012 to September 25, 2015. The series stars G Hannelius, Blake Michael, Francesca Capaldi, Regan Burns, and Beth Littleford, and also feat ...

,'' and most recently Elena on the 2017

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series ''Incorporated'' and heroine Alicia Mendoza in the 2019 ABC summer series '' Grand Hotel''. She is known in the music world for her single, "United States of Anxiety", debuted in 2016 by

People.com ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

Personal life

Tontz has a younger sister and a younger brother, and is of Irish, German, Spanish, Salvadorean, Canadian and Mayan descent.

Career

Acting

Before she began her acting career, Tontz was a child model and the face of Barbie couture in the UK. Tontz made her first appearance on television, appearing on the show ''

E-Ring ''E-Ring'' is an American military drama television series created by Ken Robinson and David McKenna and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, that premiered on NBC on September 21, 2005, and aired through February 1, 2006. The series star ...

'' as Princess Gabrielle. In 2007, she portrayed Alice Keefe in the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

movie '' The Last Day of Summer''. In 2008, she was cast as Meagan Todd in the movie ''

Dog Gone "Dog Gone" is the eighth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series ''Family Guy''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 29, 2009. The episode features Brian, the family pet, attempting to prove that a dog's ...

'' along with Luke Benward and French Stewart. Tontz began recurring on ''

Big Time Rush ''Big Time Rush'' is an American musical sitcom television series created by Scott Fellows that originally aired on Nickelodeon from November 28, 2009, to July 25, 2013 and is currently available in Paramount+. It focuses on the Hollywood mi ...

'' in 2009 playing the role of Jennifer Woods. Tontz revealed on August 6, 2012, that Nickelodeon had renewed ''Big Time Rush'' for a 13-episode fourth season, a development that was later independently confirmed. In November 2012 Tontz appeared on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Comp ...

sitcom ''

'', playing Avery's

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

n neighbor and Tyler's crush, Nikki. Nikki is sweet and talented but also initially quite naïve, and her pomeranian Evita becomes the object of Stan's affection. It was later announced that Tontz's character would begin to be recurring. In early 2013 it was revealed that Tontz would be playing

in daytime drama ''

''. The first appearance of Tontz as Miranda Montgomery was on the April 29, 2013 premiere episode of ''All My Children''. On November 11, 2013, it was announced that Prospect Park had closed production and canceled the series again. Tontz later stated that although she had fun, soaps were just not her cup of tea. In July 2015, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...

'' announced that Tontz was cast as a series regular in the USA pilot, ''Paradise Pictures,'' written and executive produced by '' Suits'' writer Rick Muirragui and executive produced by ''Suits'' creator/executive producer Aaron Korsh. The show was a period drama revolving around ambitious people striving to get to the top in 1940s Hollywood, and Tontz played a bright-eyed aspiring actress named Luciana from

Marfa, Texas Marfa is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park. It is the county seat of Presidio County, and its population as of the 2010 United States Census was 1,981. The cit ...

. The show did not go to series. In 2016, it was announced that Tontz would join

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Ameri ...

and

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...

thriller, '' Incorporated,'' as a series regular, alongside

Sean Teale Sean Teale (born 18 June 1992) is a British actor, known for his roles as Prince Condé in ''Reign'', Nick Levan in '' Skins'', and Ben Larson in the Syfy series '' Incorporated.'' He also co-starred in the Fox sci-fi/drama series '' The Gif ...

Allison Miller Allison Miller is an American actress. She is best known for playing Michelle Benjamin on the NBC series '' Kings'', Skye Tate on the Fox series '' Terra Nova'', and Carrie on the NBC series '' Go On''. She starred as Laura Larson on the Syfy te ...

Dennis Haysbert Dennis Dexter Haysbert (born June 2, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the '' Major League'' film trilogy, Secret Service agent Tim Collin in the political thriller film '' Absolute Power'' ...

and

Julia Ormond Julia Karin Ormond (born 4 January 1965) is an English actress. She rose to prominence by appearing in ''The Baby of Mâcon'' (1993), ''Legends of the Fall'' (1994), '' First Knight'' (1995), '' Sabrina'' (1995), ''Smilla's Sense of Snow'' (199 ...

. Tontz plays Elena, the love of Ben Larson's (Teale) life, who is forced to sell herself into servitude in order to pay off her family's debts. Created by David and Alex Pastor, the show is set in a distant future where corporations have unlimited power. Since 2019, Tontz has starred as Alicia Mendoza on the ABC drama '' Grand Hotel''.

Music

In 2012, Tontz released the video for her first single, "Better Than Nothing" featuring Thomas Hrvatin, via YouTube. Shot on an

iPhone 4S The iPhone 4S (originally styled as iPhone 4 S, retroactively stylized with a lowercase 's' as iPhone 4s as of September 2013) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, succ ...

, the song features Tontz's quirky, playful style of writing. "Better Than Nothing" was also featured on the March 24, 2013 episode of ''

The Mentalist ''The Mentalist'' is an American drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show f ...

''. In June 2014, repped by music industry powerhouse Danny Goldberg of GoldVE, Tontz won a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Outstanding Original Song for a Drama Series for "Parachute", an original song she wrote for ''

''. She released her track "Why" on May 5, 2015, her song and video "Go", on July 4, 2015, and most recently "United States of Anxiety", on July 22, 2016.

Filmography

Discography

*"Better Than Nothing" (feat. Thomas Hrvatin) *"Use It" *"Mr. Hipster" *"Why" (track only) *"Go"

Music videos

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tontz, Denyse 1994 births Living people Actresses from San Diego American child actresses American television actresses American soap opera actresses American film actresses Musicians from San Diego Singer-songwriters from California American women singer-songwriters American women pop singers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American women singers American people of Salvadoran descent 21st-century American singers